We're a Christian family trying to find our "new normal" with Type 1 Diabetes.
Our life has changed, but God has not. (Hebrews 13:8)

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

How To Stockpile Medical Supplies: Part 2

Here are 2 more ways to stockpile medical supplies.
(If you missed the first 2 tips, find them here.)

Number ThreeOrder supplies the first day the script is available to reorder-even if you still have supplies left. Note: This is the reason I now have extra boxes of strips in my cabinet.

The goal is to get your new supply of strips when you still have a box (or two!) in reserve. If you're faithful with this, you'll build up a supply.

Call your insurance company and ask when you can reorder. I know, you probably dread the thought of calling them. I get it! But I've actually found them very helpful when trying to figure this out. AND it's important because every policy is different.

Some insurance companies require that you wait until 60% of your supply is used up. Ours is a little different. We get a 90-day supply and have to wait 68 days before another order will go through. So once I get an order, I calculate 69 days forward and mark my calendar. When that day arrives, reordering is my top priority!

(If you're on automatic reorder, you still need to call. They won't always process the order on the first available day.)

Getting your order a few days sooner can make a HUGE difference when building a stockpile. Especially if you do this faithfully with every order. You'll have extra strips in no time.

Number FourGet free meters whenever possible. They usually come with at least 10 test strips. Plus, you'll have a backup meter if there's ever a problem with your main one.

Just this week CVS has a freebie! They have the Accu-Chek Nano on sale for $9.99. In the Sunday paper, there was a coupon for $10 off the exact same meter. Totally free!

Sometimes your doctor will have samples of meters as well. It never hurts to ask. Tell your friends and family to keep their eyes out as well.

I've also heard of free deals on insulin, but I don't have any firsthand experience with that. Please share in the comments if you have tips on this.

Start Today

What do you need to stock up on? Call your insurance company if necessary and make a "reorder plan." Problems do come up and you'll be thankful you're prepared!

Next week is the final part of this series: How To Manage Your Stockpile.

4 comments:

Apidra currently has a free insulin program till Dec. 2012 (they extended it from April and may extend again) Our rx is written as needing just more than one vial a month so we get 2 and we automatically refill which is why I have about 10 vials of Apidra in my fridge! So, yes, refilling as soon as you can really helps to build that stockpile. :-)

Great tips! We get our strip stash monthly, so I will have to call to see when we can reorder. I also sometimes will find a good deal on Freestyle strips on ebay and I'll buy a few boxes to have on hand as extras. I just did this last week!

I got the new Accu-Check Nano from CVS on Sunday! Alas, there were no test strips in the box (which is totally dumb) so I just called Accu-Check a few minutes ago and they are sending me 10 strips.

We just started doing the free Apidra - I am mad at myself for waiting so long, because we were doing mail order, getting a 90 day supply. Medco won't let you use the rebate cards. Either that or they are too lazy to figure it out. :) Anyway, once I realized that we were able to get our test strips MONTHLY from a different mail order pharmacy, I decided to screw Medco and just get our Apidra monthly at CVS with the Apidra card. Two vials a month for FREE! So happy. Not sure how much longer it will last, but I can put that $50 a month that I was spending towards stockpiling test strips. :)

I love all your stockpiling posts because I do that too! I almost have too much of a stockpile though! At the beginning, our insulin scripts were written for snacks too which we didn't use much and I guess not knowing how much insulin she would need. So I just kept ordering and have only had to order insulin a couple times in the last 2 years! I had to stop ordering because of the expiration date. I also have a lot of the humalog cartridges which I can use with podding, but probably not as easy as the vials.

I did the same with ordering...the mail order company emailed me as soon as I could place another order and I always placed an order right away for the test strips, lancets, and pen needles. (I think it was also something like 68 days.) I did this too because my husband was facing a new job and we didn't know if we would have insurance right away. I have an overabundance of pen needles now that I won't use, but those were cheap. I have LOTS of accu check test strip boxes that I'm still going to use with the pod. Now I'm starting to order the freestyle strips so I can build up that supply while using the accu check strips. I still have to be careful and watch the expiration date though. Keep sharing your tips...love it!

I just picked up Freestyle strips today because it was our reorder date, and I was happy that we started the day with a supply over 250. It wasn't that long ago that we were completely out of strips by our reorder date.

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About Me

Hi, I'm Tracy. Thanks for visiting!
Do you have a child with special needs?
My 13-year-old son, Matthew, was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 2010. If you're also in the role of Doctor Mom, I hope my blog gives you practical, uplifting encouragement!